Joe Rogan Thinks ‘Fear Factor’ Was a Stupid Show
Nowadays most Joe Rogan fans know about him from his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, or from his commentating in the professional fighting world. And while Rogan has cemented himself in comedy, podcasts, and commentating, he used to be a different face for Americans across the nation. Many fans remember Joe Rogan as the host of one of America’s grossest reality shows — Fear Factor.
But, as it turns out, Rogan isn’t exactly a fan of the show. In fact, he thinks the show was pretty dumb and claims he only got the job as host by not taking the show seriously at all.
Landing the gig as host
According to Joe Rogan, the key to landing the job as host for Fear Factor was to not care about the interview at all. Rogan claims he landed the gig solely because he did not take it seriously whatsoever.
Rogan explained on The Joe Rogan Experience, “Immediately it was a hit. I was like, this is so stupid, the show was so stupid. And the reason why I got the gig was because I made fun of it.”
Rogan added, “Like everybody was trying to be spooky, they’re, you know, ‘Is fear a factor for you?’ So I came into this meeting, I was high as f*ck. I came into this meeting, and they were telling me what they wanted to do, one of the casting directors got Jeff from NBC, hooked up the meeting, thought I would be a good fit for it. You know, I had just been on NBC for News Radio. Then I came into this meeting, I was like, what are you gonna do? You’re gonna sic dogs on people? This is like a bit in an act, this is like the bit where it goes terribly wrong.”
It seems as if Joe Rogan was just as bewildered by how ludicrous the show was as the American people. But that didn’t stop Fear Factor from being successful. Not even close.
A stupid show, but a successful one
When Rogan went in for his casting call, he already had concerns that the show wouldn’t last. But, it turned out he was totally wrong.
Rogan said on his podcast, “I was like, this is the most insane idea for a television show I’ve ever heard, this is gonna be canceled immediately, and I’m gonna have all this material about remember when I used to host Fear Factor? Meanwhile a hundred and sixty f*cking episodes later….”
According to Rogan, the work on Fear Factor was just nonstop. “Three days a week, but constant,” he explained to a guest. “One year we did 34 episodes I think, maybe 36. We just sh*t it out. While America was eating, we were sh*tting on that plate.”
“It was very easy to do initially but then the second version of it when it came back in 2011 or something like that, that version was a real problem. That version was ramping it up, the stunts were way more difficult, way more dangerous, I was freaking out,” explained Rogan.
How ‘Fear Factor’ influenced Joe Rogans career
Joe Rogan says he’d never work on Fear Factor again, but that it had a positive impact on his career writ large.
“They came to me though before this, I was like b*tch there’s not enough money. You don’t have enough money. It’s over, I did it. I’m done with that sh*t, I’m so not interested. But I’m glad I did do it,” he said. “It was good because it was money. That’s what it was good for. It was good because I didn’t have to worry about money.”
“When you don’t have to worry about money you don’t worry about your choices comedically. I didn’t worry like, oh, if I say something then they’re gonna cancel me or fire me from the show and then I can’t do it anymore. That wasn’t my concern at all,” Rogan explained.
